There are certain things we assume dogs know by instinct. Sniffing, for instance, sometimes in embarrassing places.

Barking, too, and begging for food scraps are also downloaded onto dogs’ internal computers at the factory.

Then there’s swimming. It seems so integral to being a dog that we’ve even named a stroke after them, the dog-paddle — so you’d assume that’s another thing that every dog is born knowing how to do.

It turns out that you’d be wrong. Not every dog knows instinctively how to swim, and some can’t swim at all, Wendy Diamond, the founder and editorial director of Animal Fair magazine, told TODAY.

Dogs’ aquatic abilities are so misunderstood, in fact, that she put together a list of water safety tips for dog owners.

Diamond confirmed that some dogs are born swimmers. It’s a good bet if the dog’s breed includes the word “water,” as in Portuguese or English water spaniel, it takes to swimming like a nursery-schooler takes to finger-painting.

For owners of those breeds, the problem isn’t getting the dog into the water, but keeping it on dry land.

Dogs that don’t paddle
But other breeds aren’t as water-friendly. Some dogs have to be taught[Dog Training] to swim, Diamond said, and others, like bulldogs, take to the water like submarines take to the Cross Bronx Expressway. For the former, there is hope. For the latter, there are those bright orange canine flotation devices.